Analysis Category: Digital Rebellion Blog

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Intel-only

Thu, 12 Jun 08 13:12:24 -0600

MacNN has listed the minimum specifications of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, the next version of Mac OS X, due to be released in "about a year". The biggest change is that it is Intel-only - PowerPC users are left out in the cold.

Or to be precise, the Developer Preview is Intel-only but I think this will extend to the final release as well. Why? Because Snow Leopard is about speed and optimization of the operating system and what better way to optimize the OS than to remove code for systems that haven't shipped in 3 years (by the time it is released next year)? There are very few applications out now that aren't Universal Binary or Intel-optimized, and three years is pretty generous I must admit.

However, before you throw out your old PowerBook or PowerMac, remember that Snow Leopard has very little in the way of features and is purely an optimization release. As you're not running cutting-edge hardware anyway, the extra performance probably doesn't make much difference to you. But I'm sure the frantic selling will begin regardless.

More WWDC 2008 Day 1 news

Mon, 09 Jun 08 23:40:51 -0600

Since my previous post some more things have cropped up:

3G iPhone
* Not 3G but is actually 3.5G
* Thinner at the edges but actually thicker in the middle than its predecessor by 0.7mm and slightly taller (people are making way too big a deal about this)

AT&T
* Apple no longer gets a cut of the subscription fee from AT&T
* No more prescribed service plans - mix and match data and voice
* Starting price: $30 a month for unlimited 3G data plus $39.99 a month for voice. Text messages are no longer included so add $5. This means the price increases from $59.99 a month to $74.99 a month. And that is the base plan.

As someone who was put off more by the monthly price than the initial cost of the phone, this doesn't make me happy. And this is entirely an AT&T thing because Apple no longer receive money from them.

However, if you want to use your phone as an iPod Touch with internet access even when you're not near a WiFi point, this is a good thing. Or if you only use voice, for example.

* In-store activation only, no more activating via iTunes
* GoPhone service no longer available

[via TUAW]

So Apple adds features, AT&T takes features away. Great.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard announced

Mon, 09 Jun 08 23:12:10 -0600

Apple just released a few preliminary details about Mac OS X Snow Leopard (I think they're running out of cat names...). The interesting thing to note is that NOWHERE does it say that this is OS X 10.6. It could be a major point update for 10.5. I think it probably is 10.6 but it's worth bearing that in mind though.

Apple has stated that the focus will not primarily be new features but improving the quality of the OS. I think a lot of people will be disappointed by the lack of features but this is great for people who demand high performance (a lot of people reading this blog I'd imagine).

Here are the improvements:
* Multi-core optimizations with a new technology called Grand Central. This makes it much easier for developers to create multi-core optimized applications (FCP dev team, I'm looking at you...)
* OpenCL support - Enables developers to use the processing power of the GPU to perform tasks. It will be interesting to see how developers take advantage of this but it could use your graphics card as an extra processing core when rendering and encoding for example.
* Theoretical support for 16 TB of RAM. But how much can each application address?
* QuickTime X - "optimizes support for modern audio and video formats resulting in extremely efficient media playback". That's a little vague so I'm wondering if there is some kind of GPU acceleration involved. And the "modern audio and video formats" bit makes me wonder if Windows formats such as WMV are supported out of the box, without requiring something like Flip4Mac.
* Support for Exchange 2007
* Safari speed improvements
* Takes up less space on disk
* Released in "about a year"

There have been rumors that 10.6 will be Intel-only but this report neither confirms nor denies this.

Also, there is no word on price. Consumers might be hard to win over if there are no new features so Apple may adopt lower pricing. I have heard some people say that performance and stability should be in Leopard anyway so the update should be free (which I disagree with). I personally would pay full price for an update that "unlocked" my graphics card for use as an extra core though. To me, that is worth paying for. And it'd probably result in a bigger performance boost than buying $130-worth of hardware.

Rough cuts

Mon, 02 Jun 08 23:41:42 -0600

Shane Ross has a great post about "rough" rough cuts and how frustrating it is when producers cannot see past a lack of audio or sound effects, or a dodgy transition. What is worse is when the producer gets it into his or her head that you are trying to pass that off as the end product, despite your protestations to the contrary. That has happened to me and is a nasty situation for all involved.

I think the key is to make the producer comfortable with you. Normally these kind of problems go away on the second or third project as the producer realizes that you can do the job and are not a cowboy, and they get familiar with the way that you work. I also find that a comfortable producer will give you a lot more creative freedom (I prefer to see scripts as a guide rather than a rulebook for example) and in return you will take advantage of that freedom to return a better product, so it is mutually beneficial.

Toshiba plans 512 GB SSDs for 2009

Wed, 23 Apr 08 14:34:10 -0600

Toshiba has announced that production improvements will allow it to ship 512 GB solid-state drives (SSDs) by 2009. This is a four-fold increase over its 128 GB drives that will start shipping in June.

The Japanese company estimates that it can reduce the price of making SSDs by as much as 40 to 50 percent every year, resulting in far less expensive drives at greater storage levels. While a 1.8-inch SSD costs 2.9 times as much as its rotating hard disk equivalent, a reliable price drop could reduce the cost to a comparatively reasonable 40 percent premium within the near future. When this will occur is uncertain.

This is important because SSDs are small, light, sturdy, less prone to physical failure, more power and heat efficient, and above all - FAST. This surprising rate of growth would mean that by the end of 2009, SSDs will be able to compete with conventional hard disks on space and, not long afterwards, price as well. Current models have some writing problems - namely, a lower maximum number of writes and slower write speeds than conventional hard disks. However, this is increasing all the time and will probably not be an issue in the next couple of years.

This is an exciting technology for the film industry for both acquisition, post production and, potentially, distribution that I will be keeping my eye on.

Why does QuickTime report a different resolution?

Sun, 13 Apr 08 03:02:01 -0600

Ever wondered why QuickTime reports a completely different resolution to the one you exported at?

Welcome to the world of non-square pixels. NTSC and PAL use rectangular pixels to fill up space on the screen and save transmission bandwidth, which was more of an issue when the standards were invented. Computer monitors use square pixels and so QuickTime has to squeeze one side of the image in order to prevent it looking stretched. This is purely for display and the file is not modified.

The pixel aspect ratio of NTSC footage is 0.889 meaning 720 x 0.889 = 640 so it is displayed at 640x480. For PAL it is 1.067 so 576 / 1.067 = 540 and it is displayed at 720x540.

QuickTime also has some options for controlling how the movie is displayed. Open up your movie, go to Window > Show Movie Properties and click on the Presentation tab.

You will see an option marked "Conform aperture to:" with the following options:

Classic - Classic is identical to having the conform aperture setting switched off.

Clean - Scales the image to compensate for the pixel aspect ratio and crops it to mimic the overscan on a broadcast monitor.

Production - Scales the image to compensate for the pixel aspect ratio but does not crop the image.

Encoded Pixels - No modification is made to the footage. Note the stretching caused by non-square pixels.

This is one of the many reasons why a broadcast monitor is essential.

Exporting chapter markers to DVD Studio Pro

Fri, 04 Apr 08 01:35:36 -0600

I am constantly seeing posts on Apple's support boards by people who can't get this to work. This seems to be a common problem so I'm going to give a step-by-step workflow followed by troubleshooting tips at the end.

1. In the Final Cut Pro timeline, navigate to the point you wish to place the marker, press M once to place a regular marker and then press M again to open up the Edit Marker dialog.

Make sure that you are adding the markers to the sequence itself and not to an individual clip. There are some rules though - Don't place one within 1 second of the beginning, don't place one within 1 second of the end and don't place them less than 1 second apart.

2. Click the button marked Add Chapter Marker and it will automatically insert some text into the box. Do not change this text; just click Ok.

Repeat for every marker.

3. Go to File > Export > QuickTime Movie. Do not export as QuickTime Conversion. Under the Markers drop-down, select DVD Studio Pro Markers.

Or Go to File > Export > Using Compressor. This will not display a dialog box but you will be able to see markers on the timeline in the Preview window.

4. Export the file.

5. Open up DVD Studio Pro and drag the exported file onto a track.

In the timeline, drag the edge of the horizontal scroll bar to decrease the size of the timeline and see everything at once. You should be able to see all of your chapter markers.

6. Go to Simulate and double-check that they work.

Troubleshooting

I think most problems are caused by not knowing the restrictions on chapter markers. This is from the FCP 6 manual:
* No chapter marker should appear closer than 1 second to the beginning or end of
your edited sequence.
* A chapter marker should be at least 1 second away from any other chapter marker.
* A maximum of 99 chapter markers can be placed within a single program.
* When you export from a sequence, only sequence markers are exported; markers in
clips are ignored.
* When you export a clip from the Browser, the clip's markers are exported.

Markers within nested sequences will not be exported.

You must select DVD Studio Pro Marker and not Chapter Marker under the QuickTime export options.

Don't put chapter and compression markers in the same marker!

I have had better luck with DVD Studio Pro Marker rather than All Markers in the QT export dialog.

Be aware that if you export a QT movie with markers and then import it into Compressor, you will lose your chapter markers if you do not have Compressor 3 (included with Final Cut Studio 2).

I have heard of people having success by trashing their preferences. We have a free utility that will automate it for you - Preference Manager.

Let me know if you can think of any more troubleshooting tips.

Final Cut Server coming soon?

Mon, 17 Mar 08 04:25:13 -0600

Apple just mysteriously added a new category to their discussion forum named Artbox. Now, if you recall Artbox was originally developed by Proximity and was purchased by Apple two years ago and turned into Final Cut Server.

It was announced at NAB 2007 and slated for release in the summer of that year, but never came. It was then pushed back to January 2008 but still has not been released. I hope this is a sign that preparations are being made for its release.

The most plausible answer of course is that it's just a support section for existing Artbox users (rather late though, considering Apple purchased them in 2006), although I am not aware of Apple doing this for Final Touch users before the release of Color.

160 GB SSDs coming soon?

Wed, 12 Mar 08 12:08:11 -0600

This is a few days old but still worth mentioning. Intel has announced that it is entering the SSD (solid-state disk) market this year. In addition to bringing down prices through extra competition, Intel is also offering speed improvements over existing SSD drives from other manufacturers.

Details are sparse but enough to whet our appetites - there will be a SATA (3 Gbps) version and the drives will range from 80 to 160 GB in size (in comparison, the largest generally-available ones are 64 GB). This means that SSDs can, for the first time, directly compete with hard drives on a technical level. They can't yet compete with hard disks on price but Intel is predicting prices of less than $200 by 2010.

This means a lot because solid-state disks are considerably smaller, faster and more reliable than conventional hard disks. Tests with the MacBook Air have shown considerably faster boot and application loading times. The traditional downside to SSDs (and something Intel did not mention) is that their write speeds are considerably lower than their read speeds - in fact, lower than the write speed of a conventional hard disk. This will no doubt change with time but for some tasks such as high-bandwidth acquisition, they are not yet ready to replace something like the RED Drive.

They would be great in a video editing environment though, where you don't need to write large amounts of data very often and much of the your time is spent reading data. With a lot of editing systems (particularly with the advent of 8 core Mac Pros), the bottleneck lies in the disk speed. It can also improve the responsiveness of applications like Final Cut Pro that store only a limited amount of timeline information (such as clip thumbnails) in the main memory, with the rest on disk. I can't wait to see these new drives in a RAID 0 configuration.

Poor GeForce 8800 GT Pro App performance

Tue, 04 Mar 08 01:06:07 -0700

BareFeats has some benchmarks of the new Nvidia 8800 GT in Motion 3. The interesting thing is how badly the two Nvidia cards (8800 GT and Quadro FX 5600) perform compared to the ATI cards, causing many people to cancel their orders.

The Nvidia 8800 GT is meant to be considerably more powerful than the ATI Radeon 2600 XT but it beats it in all of the tests except gaming, which isn't much help to readers of this blog.

Then add the fact that Color doesn't work well on Nvidia cards as they only offer a limited set of working bit depths, and there is a serious problem for owners of the new Mac Pros. They do not have a high-end ATI graphics card option, and it seems like all pro apps are optimized for ATI.

Their only solution is to go back to the ATI X1900 XT, which is a great card, but it is old tech. You also need to jump through a few hoops in order to get it working. I think the ATI buyout by AMD has complicated the situation for Apple and Intel, which is unfortunate. Let's hope Apple will release some new drivers soon to at least reduce the performance issues.

Xserve RAID replaced by third party solution

Tue, 19 Feb 08 10:17:02 -0700

Today has been a day of good news and bad news. The good news is that Xsan 2 was released and it looks GREAT, and the bad news is that Apple has now discontinued the Xserve RAID. It's bad news but it's bad news with a decent solution.

There was no official statement from Apple but the old Xserve RAID page now points to the Promise VTrak E-Class RAID Subsystem. It's a shame as I love our Xserve RAIDs (we have three), even though they do put out a lot of heat and noise.

I can see why Apple did it, as the price and complexity did not help sales, and endorsing an established third party is cheaper and easier. The Xserve RAIDs were in need of a update, so it is refreshing to read the specs on this machine:

	Xserve RAID	Promise V-Track
Fibre Channel Port Speed	2 GB	4 GB
Fibre Ports per Controller	1	2
Max number of drives	14	16
Max drive size	750 GB	750 GB
Max storage	10.5 TB	12 TB (24 TB with expansion module)
Drive type	Ultra ATA	SATA / SAS
Controller cache	512 MB	2 GB
On-drive cache	8 MB	16 MB
Redundant controllers	No	Yes
Expansion	None	Expansion chassis adds 16 extra drives
Rack size	3U	3U

See more specs here.

Pricing Comparison

Low-End:

Promise:
6 TB: $11,999.95
Cost per GB (1/1024 TB): $1.96

Xserve RAID:
1 TB: $5999
Cost per GB: $5.86

Mid-Range

Promise:
12 TB: $14,999.95
Cost per GB: $1.22

Xserve RAID:
3.5 TB: $8199
Cost per GB: $2.29

High-End

Promise:
24 TB (12 TB + 12 TB expansion): $26,999.90
Cost per GB: $1.10

Xserve RAID:
10.5 TB: $13,799
Cost per GB: $1.28

Other Promise Configurations

4.8 TB SAS storage: $18,999.95
12 TB expansion chassis: $11,999.95
4.8 TB SAS expansion chassis: $15,999.95

This is without a doubt much better value for money than the Xserve RAID but the high initial cost will put a lot of people off, I would imagine. I think I am going to take advantage of cheap Xserve RAID units and get the maximum possible performance out of our existing units before shelling out for these.

I have spoken to a few people that own Promise RAIDs and they say they are very satisfied with them, so my mind is at rest on that front.

Toshiba to drop HD DVD

Mon, 18 Feb 08 11:12:39 -0700

BBC News is reporting that shares of Toshiba have risen over speculation that it will scrap the HD DVD format. Toshiba was one of the pioneers of the format and has stood by it even after it was eclipsed by Blu-ray.

The article states that Toshiba is "reviewing its business strategies" but no decision has been made about HD DVD's future yet. This reflects a change in Toshiba's attitudes as it used to answer a firm "yes, the format will continue" when asked.

I hope Toshiba kills it sooner rather than later, as not only are they hurting themselves and the industry, but they are prolonging the inevitable. I think the major complaint about Blu-ray - price - will become a non-factor in the future as the industry can now focus its resources on one format to bring down prices, instead of splitting them between two. Also, technological improvements over time and increased demand will lower production costs and bring down prices as well.

Some people are wondering if it will all be in vain, as the download industry is just starting to take off. That remains to be seen but I don't think they are ready to directly compete with discs yet though.

Update 2/19/08: It's official. Toshiba has now suspended production of HD DVD players and recorders but will continue to clear out its inventory until March. This is a lot earlier than I had originally expected, so well done Toshiba for not drawing it out.

More troubles for HD DVD

Tue, 12 Feb 08 10:28:10 -0700

AppleInsider reports that the ailing HD DVD format has suffered two more blows.

Best Buy has stated it will promote Blu-ray over HD DVD in its stores. Blu-ray discs and players will have more prominent placing and staff will be instructed to recommend Blu-ray over HD DVD.

Netflix stated that, to ease consumer confusion, it will not be adding new HD DVD formats to its catalog and will gradually phase out the existing ones.

When you consider how much of a share Netflix has over the home rental market and how much Best Buy has over the retail DVD market, this is a massive blow for HD DVD. It is also a psychological blow because consumers can sense that the ship is sinking and no price cuts from Toshiba will change this. Even if they gave away HD DVD players for free, I don't think they could make a comeback.

Apple, despite being on the Blu-ray board, has remained incredibly quiet over the whole issue. I think the whole issue lies with burning Blu-ray discs. From what I have read, standard DVD and Blu-ray are so different that DVD Studio Pro will require a rewrite in order to support Blu-ray. I am guessing the same applies to iDVD and the Finder's built-in disc burning capabilities.

I would imagine this is the primary reason why Apple does not offer a Blu-ray drive option in their lineup. Maybe they were waiting for a clear winner to emerge before putting resources into updating their software packages. It would be very expensive to write code for a losing format. Price may also be a factor, considering the ~$1000 price tag of Sony's burners and the $10-25 price per disc.

Everyone predicts a Blu-ray burner from Apple every year and it never arrives but this year is different because we now have a clear winner. Everyone is so glad that a winner is emerging that they are putting all of their resources behind it to spur it on, leaving no doubt in my mind that HD DVD will eventually die. When that occurs is up to Toshiba. If I was managing Toshiba, I'd stop production, sell off the remaining inventory and count my losses. Persevering in the face of obvious defeat will only damage them in the long run.

I think we could see Blu-ray drives in Mac Pros by the end of the year (probably as a BTO option).

MacBook Air: Solid-state vs regular hard disk

Mon, 11 Feb 08 12:42:46 -0700

AppleInsider pitted a solid-state MacBook Air against one with a regular hard disk. They found that with large amounts of data, the read speeds of these drives were up to 18 times faster than regular hard disks. Write speeds were lower, at around 70% but when you compare a 30% loss in write speed to an 1800% gain in read speed, I'd gladly take that performance hit.

SSDs have other advantages:
* They are more reliable because they have no moving parts
* They are great for situations where data is littered all over the hard drive because they do not have heads that need to physically move from one area to another
* No noise
* Lower power consumption and less heat generated

Now, can you think of an application where reliability is important, you are transferring a lot of data that may be all over the place, where reading is more common than writing, and where noise and heat is undesirable?

I can't wait to throw out my Xserve RAIDs and replace them with SSD ones. They are noisy, they generate a ton of heat, I constantly worry about them failing on me, and they are really heavy and bulky. I would love to have a 1U SSD Xserve RAID that is lightweight, fast and quiet.

Unfortunately, price is the limiting factor right now. However, the proliferation of the iPhone and iPod Touch, and the increasing demand for SSD storage in compact notebooks will bring the price down with time. We're at a turning point right now because for the first time, SSDs have reached a size and price point that makes them viable for consumer laptops. There is no way they could have offered a 32 GB SSD with the Air. Ok, $999 is a lot for a 64 GB disk but it is within reach. It will probably be half that in 12 months' time anyway.

When the size and price becomes viable though, these will be great for editors.

Apple pulls out of NAB 2008

Thu, 07 Feb 08 16:54:27 -0700

AppleInsider is stating that Apple has pulled out of NAB 2008.

Last year, Apple's main competitor in the video editing field, Avid, announced that it was not going to attend the conference, amid industry speculation as to its reasons.

In Apple's case, it is not necessarily a bad thing and does not mean that we will not see new video-related products. Setting up a stand at big trade shows is expensive and Apple have reached the stage where their brand is so strong that they do not need anyone else to help them market it. This was illustrated last year by the announcement of the iPhone at Macworld in January overshadowing all of the announcements at the CES show happening at the same time.

I repeat: this is not necessarily bad news. I quote Steve Jobs from this year's Macworld keynote: "All of this in two weeks. And there's still 50 to go."

Gartner: HD DVD dead by the end of the year

Mon, 28 Jan 08 10:53:51 -0700

PCWorld is reporting that Gartner Research has predicted the death of HD DVD by the end of the year. It dubs Toshiba's massive HD DVD player price cuts as "useless resistance".

While I have no idea how long it will take before Toshiba gives up, I am in agreement that it is incredibly difficult for HD DVD to make a comeback. It is too costly for the studios to output to three different formats (standard-def DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray). More importantly, HD DVD is already dead in the eyes of several consumers I have spoken to, and I am sure the recent negative publicity cemented this belief in many more people.

Lack of studio support and constant predictions of HD DVD's demise are denting consumer confidence and increasing Blu-ray's lead. If Toshiba is planning a comeback, it needs to be now.

As an update to my previous post, the "Save HD DVD" petition now stands at over 30,000 signatures and the "Let HD DVD Die" petition stands at over 10,000. I cannot see Warner or the others doing a U-turn on this policy, however, no matter how many votes it gets.

Update 1/30/08:
Video Business is reporting that HD DVD player sales rose significantly over the past week. This is likely to be due to the massive (half-price in some cases) price cuts that took place. Last week's player sales put Blu-ray at 63%, HD DVD at 33% and dual-format players at 4%. The week before it was 90% for Blu-ray and 7% for HD DVD.

This shows that consumers are more susceptible to pricing strategies in this war than previously thought. HD DVD is the cheaper format, in terms of both disc and player costs but if Blu-ray does become the dominant format, production costs (and presumably prices) will fall with time.

NVIDIA working on Mac support for GPGPUs

Fri, 25 Jan 08 04:19:57 -0700

AppleInsider is reporting that, according to its sources, NVIDIA is working on General Purpose Graphical Processing Unit (GPGPU) support for the Macintosh.

Unlike conventional graphics chips, GPGPUs can perform general purpose processing tasks and are not limited to graphical calculations only. This allows non-graphical software to utilize the GPU for other processing tasks, speeding up calculations. Software like Compressor could use this to speed up rendering, and Motion and Final Cut Pro could re-use the graphics processor as a standard processor when it is not needed for graphics-accelerated rendering. It would also be beneficial to laptop users, as it would provide more power efficiency (performance per watt).

GPGPUs cannot process every task that a CPU could though. They are used to processing several streams of graphical data simultaneously, so they work best with parallel tasks in which several similar tasks are being completed at the same time (e.g. rendering video frames in Compressor).

NVIDIA's chips use a technology called CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) that allows software to communicate with the graphics processor and issue commands to it. ATI has a similar technology called CTM (Close to Metal).

The important factor that people seem to be missing is that GPGPUs are present in Nvidia's GeForce 8800 chips. This is confirmed by this page. This means that the GeForce 8800 GXT for the Mac Pro is already a GPGPU; it is just a case of developing OS X software to utilize it.

NVIDIA has put out a job posting for a full-time OS X CUDA driver developer, so it looks like this process is about to begin. It will probably be a long time before we see GPGPU-enabled applications because Apple will have to release driver and framework support for it before any developers can start work on CUDA applications. It is a very exciting development though.

HD DVD not going down without a fight

Tue, 22 Jan 08 15:57:21 -0700

HighDefDigest has a series of articles on the ongoing HD-DVD vs Blu-ray saga. I have heard some consumer publications say that HD-DVD is dead and Blu-ray has won the war. This is completely misleading. HD-DVD has taken some heavy blows but it has not died yet. Microsoft has shown in the past that it is prepared to make a loss in order to increase the market share of inferior products.

HD-DVD is definitely not giving up the ghost here. Universal has confirmed that it has no plans to abandon the HD-DVD format, despite the escape clause in its contract.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the fence, Warner revealed that it plans to delay even more of its HD-DVD releases. The delays now encompass its catalog titles in addition to its new ones.

Retailers are supporting Warner's move as well. Retailers are becoming cautious about over-stocking HD-DVD titles and are dedicating more shelf space to Blu-ray discs.

Finally, an online petition has been set up, campaigning against the move to abandon HD-DVD. At the time of writing, it has received over 15,000 signatures. Recently, a counter-petition called "Let HD DVD Die" was set up. At the time of writing, it has over 6,000 signatures (including mine). Because the first petition has had a couple of weeks' head start, it's difficult to tell which one is actually "winning" right now, although it probably won't make much difference.

A little update on Final Cut Pro's gamma quirks

Sat, 19 Jan 08 04:57:42 -0700

Last week I made a post about Final Cut Pro modifying the gamma of clips, causing some to be too dark and some to be washed out.

The washed out issue was the most serious because it only happened upon exporting the movie, and the image looked perfectly fine in FCP. The darkening issue was less severe because it only affected the user's perception of the image in FCP and if they were not performing color correction in FCP, they would be perfectly fine.

I was just going through User Preferences, trying to help someone who was having difficulty, when I noticed a new option that I had never seen before (I don't adjust user prefs very often). In the Editing tab, there is a section marked "Imported Still / RGB Video Gamma". You can choose from Source, 1.80, 2.20, 2.22 and Custom. My research indicates that this option has been there since 6.0.0 but Apple recently renamed it in 6.0.2 to clarify that it is for RGB footage only.

1.80 refers to the default gamma of RGB footage (eg. still images and special effects codecs such as Animation). This is also the default gamma of your Mac display. 2.20 refers to the default gamma of YUV footage (eg. NTSC, PAL, ProRes, etc). Camera footage falls into this category, as do a lot of the displays on Windows machines. Gamma 2.22 is also used by Windows PCs. I would advise leaving this option on Source, so that no gamma correction will be applied to the clip itself. The only correction that will occur will be when playing back in the FCP Canvas, and not upon exporting the movie.

This setting will fix the RGB gamma issue that caused images to be washed out upon export. This does not change Final Cut Pro's handling of YUV images.

My Macworld 2008 Predictions

Fri, 11 Jan 08 06:24:28 -0700

Everyone's doing it so I thought I would jump on the bandwagon. We just got some new Mac Pros and some new Xserves so I don't think there will be any further announcements in these departments.

What I think will be announced:
* Steve is sure to show off some features of the new iPhone SDK due in February but these will most likely be non-technical, with more technical info saved for WWDC.
* New MacBook Pros. It's been a long time since the last update and Intel just released some new mobile chips.
* iTunes movie rentals and iTunes 7.6. Based on this article.
* 16 GB iPhone plus the new firmware that was previously leaked.

What I hope will be announced:
* An update to the disappointing Apple TV that will allow you to purchase songs, music and maybe even video from the iTunes store, directly from your couch. It may even combine the Mac Mini (also disappointing sales-wise) and Apple TV into one media center unit.
* New cinema displays with glass displays like the new iMac. Not sure about built-in iSight.

What I don't think will be announced:
* I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I don't think there will be an ultraportable or a PDA. A lot of people think there will be one, but I don't. I think it would be too much of a blur between the MacBook and the iPhone / iPod Touch. Remember that with the SDK, the iPhone and Touch will essentially be PDAs so it is unlikely that there will be a separate PDA unless they can make it vastly different.

I'm writing this post on a MacBook and I can say that they can't make this thing much smaller without taking away some of the keys on the keyboard. The only way to make it really portable would be to make it a touchscreen but you would have to hold a massive screen in your hands the whole time (unless they make a stand) but then it would practically be an iPod Touch in all but size anyway. Also, flash-based storage is still very small.

* No 3G iPhone. Steve has said that 3G battery life is poor, and 3G coverage in the USA is relatively sparse.

Find out how wrong I was on January 15th at 9am.

More companies drop HD DVD

Thu, 10 Jan 08 13:29:47 -0700

HBO announced yesterday that it will follow its parent company, Warner, in embracing Blu-ray exclusively. Warner has one more subsidiary, BBC Home Video, that has not yet announced its intentions but it is expected to follow suit.

Variety is now reporting that the two remaining studios in the HD DVD camp, Universal and Paramount, could switch sides soon as well.

They say that they can confirm that "Universal's commitment to backing HD DVD exclusively has ended" and that Paramount has an escape clause in its contract that will allow it to release films on Blu-ray after Warner embraced it exclusively. The two companies are not dropping support for the format but it is less attractive for them to remain exclusive to it.

I am certain that HD DVD will not go down without a fight, as Microsoft and Toshiba have invested a considerable amount of money into the format. Toshiba says it will remain faithful to the format but as a consumer, I would not be rushing out to buy an HD DVD player right now. If the remaining HD DVD-supporting studios choose to release their titles on both HD DVD and Blu-ray, the battle is already over. Why would you buy an HD DVD player that can play two studios' titles when you can buy a Blu-ray player that will play every company's discs? It's a no-brainer.

Update: Universal has issued a statement: "Contrary to unsubstantiated rumors from unnamed sources, Universal's current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format". Note that they did not use the word "exclusively" or say anything about not releasing titles on Blu-ray.

Death of the TV studios?

Wed, 26 Dec 07 08:25:58 -0700

Over on dembot, Andrew Baron has an article on why he thinks the TV studios will die. He makes a lot of good points and compares the writer's strike of the '80s with today's strike. He says that consumers are less affected by the strike today due to the presence and growing popularity of online content.

There is one thing that he doesn't mention though. I don't like to bring it up but everything eventually comes back to money. The internet makes it easy to attract an audience but how do you make money from it? The lonelygirl15 producers couldn't work it out. They had more viewers than a lot of TV shows but they didn't know how to harvest that audience for profit.

People seem to think that selling advertising space is the cookie-cutter solution to every single problem. It can work but it is not effective in all situations. The reason Google has been so successful is that they target people who are looking for a solution to a problem. If you are looking for gardening services in Los Angeles, they can provide you with that information and charge a fee to the advertiser. But what if you are not looking for a product or service? What if you are just trying to watch a TV show? How effective is advertising then? In the Google example above, advertising was helping you achieve your goal but in the TV show example, it was a hindrance towards your objective as it interrupted your viewing.

It is clear that the current TV model will not be successful in the long run. But there will still be life in it until producers can work out a way to match or increase their current TV revenues through other means. At the end of the day, consumers will go to wherever the content they desire exists. So whilst the studios are not adapting well to changing technology, they still have a lot of power. How could someone without studio backing make a show like '24' for example?

I think the final solution will be an on-demand subscription system where people get exactly what they want when they want it (uninterrupted by ads), advertisers promote their products discretely through product placement, and producers are paid for each viewing of their show. This would be a mutually beneficial system. Unfortunately, life isn't quite as perfect as that, so we will see what happens.

Update: TechCrunch has some statistics on internet viewing figures. Interestingly, viewers are 47% more "engaged" by internet ads than TV ads. I suppose this is due to greater audience targeting, which is not possible with TV. The question no-one seems to be asking, and I don't have the answer because I don't have access to the research report, is how engaged are consumers overall by TV or internet TV-based advertising? If I was an advertiser, that would be one of my first questions.

Update #2: Reuters has a conflicting report (via CamcorderInfo) that says that 85% of the 2,081 Americans surveyed said that TV ads have more of an impact on their buying habits than online ads.

Final Cut Pro and Quicktime 7.3 issues

Sun, 23 Dec 07 02:48:35 -0700

A lot of people have been experiencing issues with the latest QuickTime version. The most common issue seems to be captures stopping after 10 minutes or so, leaving behind a ridiculously large file. Other people are finding incompatibilities in third party applications that use QuickTime.

The issue seems to stem from the fact that Software Update recommends the update because it is compatible with your operating system BUT it is not compatible with less-than-current versions of Final Cut Pro. So if you have version 4 or 5, you're out of luck, and it appears to be these users that are experiencing the issues.

What a lot of people don't realize is that Final Cut Pro depends heavily on QuickTime and so any QT updates will directly affect FCP. QuickTime is not just a "feature" of the operating system. It is also worth noting that the latest version of Final Cut, 6.0.2, requires QuickTime 7.3 and will not run well without it.

This is why you should never update a machine in the middle of a production. If you are not in the middle of a production, you should wait to see if other users have issues before installing the update. It is also best to have a cloned version of your hard disk so that you can get up and running again as quickly as possible. For the latter, I would recommend Carbon Copy Cloner.

I made a post the other day about downgrading from FCP 6.0.2 to 6.0.1.

Saw IV Blu-ray DVD to feature web-enabled content

Thu, 13 Dec 07 15:15:54 -0700

HighDefDigest is reporting that the Blu-ray release of Saw IV will feature web-enabled "MoLog" functionality. "MoLog" stands for "Movie Blog" and enables consumers to make blog posts and comments about the movie directly from their couch.

This will be the second Lionsgate title to feature web-connectivity, the first being War, which has a built-in multiplayer game that people can play over the internet. This news comes shortly after Warner announced a "Community Screening" feature on the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix HD-DVD that allows you to watch the movie at the same time as other people and chat with them in real-time.

I have to say that I don't know how popular or successful these features will ultimately turn out to be, but it will be interesting to see how the technology is used 2-3 years down the line when the novelty has worn off and distributors have a better idea of what consumers are looking for. The thing about technology is that no matter how flashy or innovative it is, its ultimate success depends on how useful it turns out to be for the end-user. I think web-enabled content has potential, but I think the potential lies in adding value long after the user has purchased the product, such as with TV spots, fan films, alternate endings, etc. This would maintain interest in the title and increase the potential financial reward for a sequel.

Sahara budget revealed

Mon, 10 Dec 07 05:03:36 -0700

The LA Times has managed to obtain details of the budget for the movie Sahara. If you don't remember, Sahara was an action-adventure movie that came out in 2005, starring Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz. It lost $105 million at the box office and is regarded as one of the biggest flops in Hollywood's history.

The production costs came to $160 million but the producers managed to save a lot of money by shooting abroad. Some of their Moroccan crew were paid the same amount for a week's work as their US counterparts would be paid for a day. They were also given tax breaks and financial incentives by foreign governments.

But some of the other costs were shocking. They spent $105,556 on bottled water in Morocco alone. How many bottles does it take to spend that amount of money? I did a Google product search and found a site offering 24 bottles for $7.13, equaling about $0.30 per bottle. So, at that price you would need at least 355,307 bottles of water! The actual amount would probably be much higher because they would most likely buy wholesale in bulk, which would cost even less per bottle. Remember that this is only in Morocco and doesn't include any water costs in any of the other locations. Crazy.

Even this was a small cost compared to some of the other things in the budget. The strangest thing is that the "usual suspects" - special effects, post production, actors' wages - were the smallest items on the balance sheet. The main problem was that they would shoot complex sequences costing millions of dollars that ended up being cut from the final movie. The film also suffered because the high production costs meant that creative control became a secondary consideration in scenes with product placement.

A very interesting read. I'd recommend checking it out sooner rather than later, as Paramount are very angry that the budget was leaked and it may end up being taken down.

NBC departure worse for Apple than previously thought?

Fri, 07 Dec 07 02:49:46 -0700

I posted earlier this week about NBC Universal withdrawing its video content from the iTunes store. This was seen as a foolish move by NBC.

Well, it turns out that it may not have been foolish at all. Christina Warren at TUAW hits the nail on the head when she says that whilst "iTunes dominates the world of digital music sales, the same cannot be said for iTunes video downloads." Assuming that you meet the system requirements for NBC Direct (most people in the world have at least Windows XP so most people would) and assuming you don't want to play it on a Mac or iPod, what advantage does iTunes have? The only way you can compete with free products is to make sure yours offers infinitely more advantages to justify the price, and iTunes downloads don't.

My suggestions for Apple:
* HD content. Yes, it will take a long time to download but they can incorporate a method whereby we can start watching before it has finished. I think the download times are not as big of a deal as Apple makes out, because you only download it once. Once that's done, it's on your hard drive forever in full HD glory.

* Put more resources into Apple TV development. They've shown that wireless, stripped-down music stores work on the iPod Touch and iPhone, so why not a wireless, stripped-down music and video store on the Apple TV?

* According to Apple's own site, H.264 1080p QuickTime files run at 7-8Mbps. 802.11g (a popular wireless networking standard) runs at 60Mbps. Even if there were range-based issues with this (data rates lower as the devices get further and further away), its successor - 802.11n - offers 108Mbps, which the Apple TV has full support for. There is no reason why 1080p isn't supported on the Apple TV.

* 5.1 surround sound options within the iTunes video store. There's no point in offering high quality video if you don't have high quality audio as well.

The reason why the iTunes music store is so successful is because it offers something you can't get with a CD. You can mix and match tracks and preview them before you buy. You can't do that in a store. Apple also got a major head start in the industry with the music store that they don't have with their other stores.

The iTunes movie and TV stores need to offer something that DVDs, television and Tivos can't. The fact is that we now live in a high definition age and Apple's store content can't even compete with standard definition DVDs. A lot of people are wary of buying high definition players because they don't know whether HD-DVD or Blu-ray will win the format war. Apple could become the third option - a high definition version that you know will still be around next year that can easily be burnt onto whatever format ends up winning the war. I'd buy that for sure.

Apple, despite its recent growth in revenue, seems to be neglecting certain key areas of its business - areas that were largely responsible for its success in the first place.

Update: Director Michael Bay suggests that Microsoft has the same idea. In a posting on his official forum, he says:

Microsoft wants both formats to fail so they can be heroes and make the world move to digital downloads. That is the dirty secret no one is talking about. That is why Microsoft is handing out $100 million dollar checks to studios just embrace the HD DVD and not the leading, and superior Blu Ray. They want confusion in the market until they perfect the digital downloads.

Of course, it's just speculation, but Microsoft has been found guilty of such tactics many times before (often with very little consequence by the authorities).

NBC Universal withdraws content from iTunes Store

Mon, 03 Dec 07 02:31:22 -0700

I just read that, as previously promised, NBC Universal has not renewed their contract and all of their content has been removed from the iTunes Store. NBC now has hulu (currently in invite-only beta) and NBC Direct (requires Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, doesn't work on Vista and is buggy as hell on XP). It is also a lot more complicated to set up. So a worthwhile transition then.

The internet is a game-changer when it comes to content distribution. The companies that will survive are the ones prepared to adapt to the new business models and the ones that die are the ones that stubbornly stick with outdated practices. NBC is not winning over any consumer support with its attitude. Such recent acts include asking for "flexible pricing" aka. bundling shows with extra ones you don't want for a higher price; and Universal Music accusing all iPod users of being pirates and tacking on a $1 "piracy fee" onto the sales of Zunes (so far they've made about $3 but it's the principle). I have heard a lot of people say that they were prepared to pay for NBC shows on iTunes but now they will resort to piracy because they have no other option (this especially applies to Mac users). Also, it is rather curious that NBC would remove content from a system they make money from and incorporate it into a free system for seemingly no other reason than to spite Apple.

I hope NBC will see sense otherwise continued acts like this could well be the nail in their coffin.

Note: This withdrawal only applies to content broadcast on NBC. Shows produced by NBC and broadcast on other networks are still there.

[via TUAW]

Harry Potter HD DVD contains "Community Screening" feature

Mon, 26 Nov 07 07:45:33 -0700

High-Def Digest has an article about a new feature on the Order of the Phoenix HD DVD (not the Blu-ray version).

Live Community Screening allows you to play the movie at the same time as other people with the disc and talk to them about it via the text-based chat room.

One user starts the session and invites the other viewers to it. This user can control playback (play, pause, etc); no-one else can. It is unclear at this stage how you invite other people - presumably they must register with a central database.

I think this is an experiment more than anything else, which is why Warner released it without much fanfare. Voice-based interaction might make it more viable but it's simply more enjoyable to watch a movie with other people in the room.

However, with that said, it might be useful for people who are separated by long distances.

Looking to monetize your online videos?

Fri, 23 Nov 07 21:40:54 -0700

If you're looking to gain money from online videos, you should definitely check out this report at TubeMogul.

The PDF file lists 11 video sharing sites that they monitor and shows statistics such as whether or not they offer a revenue scheme, how much of a share content providers receive and, uniquely (and most importantly in my opinion), gives user opinions on the site.

Very valuable if you're looking to make money from your content online.

Movies missed by the Oscars

Tue, 20 Nov 07 01:23:19 -0700

Variety has an article on solid acting performances that will probably be missed by the Academy because they reside in a genre that normally doesn't receive attention.

I definitely agree with Matt Damon for The Bourne Ultimatum and Elijah Kelley for Hairspray. I was actually there at the London premiere of Ultimatum. I wasn't invited or anything; I normally stop by Leicester Square whenever I'm in the area because they have 5 or 6 cinemas there and you can literally see ANYTHING, old or new, with maybe three other people in the cinema at the same time. I didn't get to see my movie in the end but I DID get to see Matt Damon and realize that this guy cared an incredible amount about the movie. His number one priority was creating a believable character that audiences can understand and relate to. It's very rare to see that kind of attitude in the action film genre. And he pulled it off without it being cheesy, which is even rarer.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to talk about Grindhouse. Grindhouse deserves an award for something because it remains, to this date, the most fun I have ever had at the cinema. I was so sure it would be a success. People just didn't get it. I heard that people walked out after the first movie, complained about the visual and aural quality and were incredibly confused by the missing scenes and trailers. But the fan base is so strong (#153 on the IMDb Top 250) that it should have long-term success, which is more than can be said for some of the recent blockbusters.